Hakeem Irfan Rashid
Srinagar: Deportation of Pakistani nationals from Jammu and Kashmir continued despite the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh admitting a plea by one such family from Poonch against the government's move and granting it temporary relief.
J&K Police employee Iftikhar Ali and his eight siblings, including five sisters, got a respite when HC admitted their petition claiming that they were not Pakistani nationals and had been living in Salwah village of Poonch for generations. "Petitioners be not asked or forced to leave the Union Territory of J&K. This direction is, however, subject to objections from the other side," justice Rahul Bharti said in an order.
Ali and his siblings were, however, sent for deportation despite the court relief and their whereabouts were unknown.
Ali has served in the police for the past 25 years and is posted at Katra base camp of Vaishno Devi temple. The judge asked government lawyers to submit a report in two weeks and listed the case for the next hearing on May 20.
Several groups of people were bussed to the Attari-Wagah border from J&K accompanied by government officials and police personnel to ensure their exit from the country, following the Centre's order in the wake of the April 22 terrorist attack near Pahalgam.
Another family in Rajouri district was left shattered when two sisters, both in their 60s, Zameer Fatima and Syeda Sageer Fatima, were shifted to the border for deportation. "I don't want to leave. I have been here since 1983," said Syeda Sageer Fatima, who has worked as a teacher for more than four decades here.
Students, staff and people from across the villages in the area bid her a tearful adieu. Their children were anxious that they have no relatives in Pakistan and nobody to take care of them. In Srinagar, a one-year-old daughter was separated from her Pakistani mother, who was taken to the Attari-Wagah border for deportation. "Who will take care of my daughter?" she asked.
Officials said about 60 women from Pakistan and Muzaffarabad, who were married to former Kashmiri militants across the border and came to J&K after the 2010 rehabilitation policy, were also deported. "The process of deportation is going on but for now people with valid Pakistani passports and visas are being taken back. The situation is more complex than what is being told in the media," said an official who did not wish to be identified, adding Pakistani nationals are being identified and deportation notices sent continuously.
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J&K Police employee Iftikhar Ali and his eight siblings, including five sisters, got a respite when HC admitted their petition claiming that they were not Pakistani nationals and had been living in Salwah village of Poonch for generations. "Petitioners be not asked or forced to leave the Union Territory of J&K. This direction is, however, subject to objections from the other side," justice Rahul Bharti said in an order.
Ali and his siblings were, however, sent for deportation despite the court relief and their whereabouts were unknown.
Ali has served in the police for the past 25 years and is posted at Katra base camp of Vaishno Devi temple. The judge asked government lawyers to submit a report in two weeks and listed the case for the next hearing on May 20.
Several groups of people were bussed to the Attari-Wagah border from J&K accompanied by government officials and police personnel to ensure their exit from the country, following the Centre's order in the wake of the April 22 terrorist attack near Pahalgam.
Another family in Rajouri district was left shattered when two sisters, both in their 60s, Zameer Fatima and Syeda Sageer Fatima, were shifted to the border for deportation. "I don't want to leave. I have been here since 1983," said Syeda Sageer Fatima, who has worked as a teacher for more than four decades here.
Students, staff and people from across the villages in the area bid her a tearful adieu. Their children were anxious that they have no relatives in Pakistan and nobody to take care of them. In Srinagar, a one-year-old daughter was separated from her Pakistani mother, who was taken to the Attari-Wagah border for deportation. "Who will take care of my daughter?" she asked.
Officials said about 60 women from Pakistan and Muzaffarabad, who were married to former Kashmiri militants across the border and came to J&K after the 2010 rehabilitation policy, were also deported. "The process of deportation is going on but for now people with valid Pakistani passports and visas are being taken back. The situation is more complex than what is being told in the media," said an official who did not wish to be identified, adding Pakistani nationals are being identified and deportation notices sent continuously.
